Before the Coin Act that produced the Silver Dollars and Gold Eagles for the 1984 Los Angeles ("LA") Olympic Games, there were multiple proposals for silver and gold coin programs. This time out, I'm going to focus on a pair of bills that proposed the striking of a large quantity of a Silver Dollar.
Frank Annunzio (D-IL), a Representative in the United States ("US") House of Representatives ("House") first introduced a coin bill to commemorate the LA Olympics in June 1981. The bill included a number of provisions that reflected a commemorative program that was still determining its working framework.
Rather than being a standalone coin authorization bill - like the typical commemorative coin bill of the present day - Annunzio's bill amended the Coinage Act of 1965 to enable the striking of up to 25 million standard-specification Silver Dollars "in such quantities as are necessary to meet the needs of the public."
The designs for the Silver Dollars were to be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury, to be dated "1984" and to be "emblematic of the. 1984 Summer Olympic games which are to be held in Los Angeles, California,"
A surcharge was to be included in the Issue Price of each Silver Dollar, though a specific surcharge amount was not identified. Instead, the bill specified that the surcharge was to be set by the Secretary of the Treasury and to be "not less than 25 per centum of such cost [the fully-loaded production cost]."
Collected surcharges were to be split 50/50 between the United States Olympic Committee ("USOC") "to train United States athletes for participation in the Olympic games".and the General Fund of the US Treasury "for the sole purpose of reducing the national debt."
The expiration for the coining authority of the Silver Dollars was set as December 31, 1985; as noted above, all were to be dated "1984" regardless of when struck. (The bill, if it had been approved, would have gone into effect on October 1, 1982. Depending on the date the Mint began striking the coins, the potential would have existed for coins to have been struck in 1982, 1983, 1984 and 1985.)
The bill was referred to the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, with a further referral to its Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Coinage. The bill did not progress past its Committee referral.
In April 1982, Representative Annunzio was back with a revised version of his LA Olympics Silver Dollar bill. The revised bill did not reference the Coinage Act of 1965 (other than to state the Silver Dollars were to be Legal Tender as per the Act). It allowed for the striking of a
maximum of 50 million (!) Silver Dollars, or a lower quantity necessary "to meet the needs of the public."
The bill's coin design provisions were carried over from the previous bill, with "1984" continuing to be the date used on each coin struck regardless of when struck.
The new bill's surcharge provisions were updated to specify that the surcharge amount on each coin, while still being set by the Secretary of the Treasury, was to be a minimum of $10 per coin (vs. a percentage of production costs). The surcharge could have been set higher than $10, but a $10 floor was established.
The distribution of the surcharges was revised, with reduction of the national debt no longer being an objective. The USOC was to receive 70% of collected surcharge funds, with the funds to "be used to train United States Olympic athletes, to support local or community amateur athletic programs, and to erect facilities for the training of such athletes."
The other 30% of collected surcharge funds was to be paid to the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee ("LAOOC") "to stage and promote the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic games."
The bill also included an interesting statement regarding coin purchases and personal taxes:
"The Secretary shall not use any words, perform any act, or make any statement, written or oral, which would imply or indicate, or tend to imply or indicate, that any portion of the coins' sale price to the public constitutes a tax-deductible contribution."A particular provision of the bill that proved to be an obstacle was:
"Not later than thirty days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall pay $50,000,000 to the United States Olympic Committee and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee as advance payments of amounts to be paid under subsections (a) and (b) [surcharge distribution sections]. Such advance payments shall be nonrefundable."A non-refundable transfer of such magnitude, before a single coin had been sold/ surcharge collected, was a provision that did not escape the attention of those in Congress who were supporting US President Ronald Reagan and his attempts to curtail Government spending on a wide variety of Federal programs. The Treasury Department also objected to the provision. It would not simply "slide through."
The issuing period of the coins was set to be October 1, 1982 through December 31, 1985.
The bill was included in a lengthy Hearing before the Subcommittee that reviewed multiple Olympic coin proposals and included the testimony of many witnesses; the extensive Hearing stretched over five sessions in April and May 1982. While Annunzio's bill was reviewed and discussed during the Hearing, it was not reported by the Subcommittee for further consideration; this ended the potential of a Silver Dollar only coin program in support of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
I'll be back with a look at other LA Olympics coin proposals soon.For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more modern US commemorative coin stories, see:
Commems Collection
Posted 10/31/2025 10:02 am
